Letter: Poultry inspection cost ratio not acceptable

Published: March 31, 2014 4:00AM

Editor:

Every year hundreds of deaths and tens of thousands of hospitalizations are attributed to food poisoning in this country. Yet the U.S. Department of Agriculture would both quicken the already swift pace of poultry inspection and replace federal inspectors with industry personnel.

Although the USDA asserts these changes would save millions of dollars annually, the grim cost/benefit ratio is morally unacceptable. Whatever the supposed monetary advantage, it wouldn't justify the general risk of salmonella.

It hardly matters which way the ideological weathervane turns in this contention. Such decisions must transcend narrow private interests.